A History of Humanity from 2020 to Blind Chance
by BeneziaWillLive
Summary: An introduction to the historical underpinnings of the Blind Chance Universe. Sithana would be given the full volume (and not just this first chapter) to help her understand Sigren's cultural background when they decided on the intervention in chs1-4 of "Blind Chance". Further chapters unlikely unless someone wants to discuss and contribute.


**Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed me, and/or reviewed "Blind Chance." Also, t** **hanks to Bioware for the Mass Effect universe and its characters. Anything and anyone you don't recognize from Mass Effect is probably a result of my own ruminations and experiences.**

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 **A History of Humanity from 2020 to "Blind Chance"**

Human history from 2020 to 2120 was turbulent, violent, and dominated by many complicated problems, many of which arose before this book's period of focus. The discovery of the Prothean Archive in 2148 represents the greatest turning point during the period this book covers. However, many factors shaped—and nearly destroyed—Human civilization before 2148, many still affect it today.

The factors leading to what historians have called the near collapse of Human civilization were many and mostly predictable before their effects came fully into play. Global climate change was well under way by 2020. Parts of Earth's surface became nearly uninhabitable by 2060 due to periods of extreme heat. In some parts of the Middle East, East Asia, North America, and Australia in particular, temperatures could soar to sixty-five degrees centigrade ( nearly 150 degrees in the old, and now never-used Fahrenheit system) in summers. By 2080, Some areas might touch seventy degrees C, when the melting of the Northern Hemisphere permafrost reached its peak. Tropical areas were often hot enough that temperatures would exceed 40 degrees centigrade. With humidity at over ninety percent, people would literally die of heat stroke when outdoors because they had no effective ways to cool themselves. As we will see in chapter two, the rapid rise in temperatures, particularly in desert and jungle areas, made it impossible to pre-schedule outdoor activities at times when climatology showed the thermometer might hit temperatures that would, and often did, exceed Human-safe levels.

Many high-temperature areas could not produce food due to the unpredictable periods of extreme heat beginning in the 2020s. Many regions lost their ability to rely on local agriculture by the time super-droughts and floods began in the late 2050s. This highly variable and unpredictable precipitation regime would kill nearly 200 million before war came to dominate Human affairs in the early 2060s. More died due to climatic instability until the accumulated fall-out from the various wars that nearly shattered Human civilization during the Twenty-First century added to Earth's numerous difficulties.

Once fall-out began effecting Earth's climate, temperatures fell rapidly. They ultimately reached levels known during the so-called little ice-age from 1600-1850. Average temperatures fell nearly five degrees centigrade from 2088 to 2100, falling twenty degrees C in some areas. They remain at or near this level in 2170. Food production fell sharply, ultimately starving millions. The so-called "Great Chill"'s effects are described in Chapter Sixteen.

The effects of the droughts, storms, and later, the rapid decline in atmospheric temperatures were exacerbated by wars and other shocks to the global trade system that lasted until at least 2120. Nearly a billion people are thought to have died of starvation due to inadequate food transport between 2065 and 2115. Many feel this catastrophe was avoidable. Others disagree.

Chapters two, three and four survey the various natural disasters now believed to have had a man-made component that affected Earth from 2020 to the present. Chapter Five describes how relatively wealthy nations used military force to stop immigrants in their attempts to cross borders as early as 2015. Wealthy countries either could, or would, not care for the increasingly numerous migrants seeking new homes, particularly as their own situations became more difficult as the Twenty-First Century came to a close. The physical and technical barriers they erected, including national ID that had to be used for all financial transfers, led to hundreds of millions of migrant deaths from 2020 to 2148.

As we will see in Chapter Five, the then-disintegrating European Union closed its borders to migrants in 2023. The closure of Europe's borders became politically necessary after millions of migrants were allowed to flow from the Middle East and North Africa into Southeastern European nations starting in 2018. From then until 2063's Northern Alliance war against the New Caliphate and the simultaneous South Asian Religious War, nearly fifteen million migrants died on the borders of increasingly determined and desperate European nations. Tens of millions more would die elsewhere.

Wars caused many deaths, but climatic effects killed more total people than any other single event or set of events. One of the reasons for this was the increasing instability and unpredictability of regional weather. The highly variable conditions that affected many areas as early as the early Twenty-First Century presaged far greater future danger. Over time, rapid changes in weather trends could literally see droughts end in days and cities swept away in hours.

Twenty forty-five's Hurricane Lianne was an early exemplar of this increasingly frequent phenomenon. The storm was born in the Atlantic ocean. It went through a period of extremely rapid intensification before devastating the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region with a nearly 30 foot storm surge. It then crossed the Gulf of Mexico and flooded the city of New Orleans to such a degree that the government of the rapidly declining United States of America declared the city unrecoverable two years later. Hurricane Lianne caused nearly 250,000 deaths and $1.6 trillion in property damage. Other storms would follow with comparable impacts on New York City, the capital of the newly formed North American Democratic Republic in 2073, Boston in 2078, Baltimore, in 2081, Honolulu in 2086, and finally, in 2088, Houston TX.

These storms along with a so-called ARK storm that devastated California's Central Valley in 2088, killed millions. They also weakened North America's leading nations economically and politically, a state worsened by the destruction caused by the magnitude 9.3 earthquake that left nearly 150,000 dead in Southern California in 2082. The region was still rebuilding after the effects of The Northern Alliance War. The North American powers' social and economic collapse is believed to have been a prime contributor to the tensions leading to 2088's nuclear exchange between China and the Free American States. Its effects are briefly described in this chapter and considered more thoroughly in Chapter Ten.

As we will see in chapter four, Earth's Southern Hemisphere was also devastated by violent weather, most notably Southeastern India, Pakistan, and Eastern Australia where millions were declared dead and tens of millions are still listed as "missing" decades after the super-storms that struck these areas left them barely habitable in 2086, 2087, and 2091 respectively.

Chapters six-twelve describe the wars that were a prime cause of death and destruction on Earth. The first was also the worst. The so-called Northern Alliance War and the simultaneous War for Kashmir began in 2063. These conflicts began after a period of rapidly increasing tensions between northern nations and the New Caliphate which rose in Baghdad in 2033, rapidly expanding across the Muslim world. In response, Russia, China, the United States and the rump European Union formed the Northern Alliance in 2041. By 2063, with many African and Middle Eastern refugees dying each year, and more in migrant camps in Central Asia as well as North and West Africa, tensions reached an explosive peak.

Eighty thousand fans attending Super Bowl LXXXXVI in Detroit's rebuilt Ford Motor Dome were exposed to Chemical weapons, all died. Their deaths on live media catalyzed the war for the Northern Alliance. Simultaneously, attacks launched by both Hindu and Muslim interests in Kashmir lit off a series of escalating chemical and nuclear exchanges that would kill nearly 250 million in South Asia in 2063-2065.

Vast internal and external political pressure along with other factors drove the North American powers to decide the so-called Super Bowl Slaughter was caused by state sponsored terrorism. They declared war. The rest of the Northern Alliance joined them in March, 2063. Alliance forces advanced on many fronts and appeared likely to win an early victory. Due to its relatively underdeveloped economy and the Northern Alliance's greater resources, the New Caliphate had little hope for victory. It chose to use nuclear weapons. Nearly 3,000 submarine-launched nuclear warheads exploded in Russia, Israel, Western China, Southern and Eastern Europe, Southwestern North America, and parts of the Pacific Basin. North American, German, Chinese and Russian anti-missile systems destroyed many warheads.

The Northern Alliance deployed 10,000—mostly Russian— neutron-type warheads against targets in the Middle East, Asia Minor, and North Africa. More than a billion died on both sides of the war. Hundreds of millions more were exposed to fallout and chemical weapons discharges. Many affected regions in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, and Southern parts of North America are still uninhabitable.

A complex situation in Africa driven by external interference, rapid population growth, poor healthcare infrastructure, religious conflicts, and the long-term effects of European colonization was worsened by the religious wars that continued to erupt in West Africa in particular throughout most of the Twenty-First Century. The West African wars and the social disruption they caused would ultimately kill half a billion people. They will be reviewed in chapter Nine along with 2075's Northeast Asian War.

The Northern Alliance War was one of many factors that drove the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. Robots and remotely controlled drones were effective war-fighters for democracies wanting to minimize the risk of war-fighting to their soldiers. However, as has often been the case throughout history, once technologies were proven by the military, they were easily applied in the civilian sector as well.

The shocks rising from the rapid rise of artificially competent machines and the Northern Alliance War led to a collapse of many developed and developing economies from 2035-2085. Chapters Eight and Fourteen describe how low-wage positions millions depended on were suddenly taken by robots and self-managing systems based close to the consumers of the products they manufactured or supported. Self-driving vehicles of all kinds quickly displaced millions of transport workers at the same time as most types of construction, janitorial services, mining, and many other occupations came to be dominated by self-managing systems or remotely piloted units. So-called white-collar positions were also lost by the millions, particularly in finance, middle management, law, journalism, and healthcare .

Jobs disappeared faster than technology could create them. In 2075, most nations faced unemployment rates of fifty percent. Most nations suddenly faced the practical equivalent of severe overpopulation as people with jobs would often refuse to pay taxes to make self-maintenance possible for those who did not. As Sweden's Social Democratic leader Johann Lundgren said in 2073, "If idle hands are the devil's playground and desperate ones are his favorite toys, then I fear we are creating hell on Earth."

The socioeconomic disruptions rising from artificially intelligent systems led to the strong and harshly enforced Anti-Self-Managing Systems Treaty of 2082. This comprehensively enforced convention had few exemptions. These were for managing hazardous materials and deep space exploration. Exemptions were not allowed for disaster recovery due to the anti-technology movement. Others have argued that this policy led to millions of added deaths because nations that tried to use self-managing systems to assist with infrastructure repair often faced terrorism, economic blockade, or even military action by nations determined to enforce the new treaty whose implementation will be discussed in many future chapters. It should be noted that had the United States not collapsed due to factors including the radicalization of politics, disintegration of political institutions, and societal weakness caused by rapid increases in socioeconomic inequality partly caused by mechanization of traditional industries, the Self-Managing Systems Accords might not have been as strongly written or enforced. The United States' decline and the rise of its daughter nations will be discussed in many chapters throughout this work.

Chapter Four shows tangentially that wars to enforce the Self-Managing Systems treaty devastated parts of South Asia in 2096 that escaped the 2063-2065 War for Kashmir. The so-called long drought ran from 2093-2099. Regional governments tried to adopt self-managing agricultural systems. They faced external reprisals and internal revolt on the part of tens of millions of displaced agricultural workers. The drought and strife in South Asia in the 2090s directly caused nearly 100 million deaths and contributed to the collapse of governance across the region. The turbulence in South Asia caused either by climatic impacts or ongoing economic disruption caused by the War for Kashmir of 2063-65killed nearly a billion from 2090 to 2125. Greater detail on all of these conflicts is offered in chapter Twelve.

On the often-errant assumption that leaders would be less likely to risk war or overly violent suppression of riots if those doing this work were living beings, clauses of the ASMS Convention required that living beings occupy all functions of law enforcement and the military with the exception of explosives disposal. Without the ASMS convention and other supporting agreements that were passed later, it is believed that ninety-five percent of jobs on Earth would have disappeared as of the discovery of the Prothean Archive on Mars in 2148. Humanity's experience of self-managing systems explains the Systems Alliance's ready acceptance of the Citadel Council's prohibitions on artificial intelligence.

It is worth noting that some fringe scientists have argued—and continue to do so in spite of the backlash from the events on Sydon and Camala(to be discussed in chapter Twenty-Five)—that artificial intelligence could help Humanity bridge the vast gap between its economic productivity and technological development and the relatively advanced states of races like the Salarians and Asari. Some of the arguments on both sides of this contentious issue are described in chapter Twenty-Four.

The pro-AI faction's fears are at least somewhat justified. The major Council races have enormous advantages in population, output and technology. The Asari population is thought to be at least ten times that of Humanity. As of this writing, Asari gross economic product may be as much as twenty times larger. Turian numbers are several times Humanity's. Turian military expenditures are much larger than the Asari, but Asari technology and their natural ability with biotics equalize these races' cumulative military power. Total Salarian numbers are at least thirty times larger than Humanity's current population. Salarian technology is at least a century ahead of Humanity's current ability to apply science. Had the so-called Morning War not occurred, the Quarians would probably be a far larger and more productive nation than the SA is today. Chapters Twenty-Four and Five offer further data on the economic, technological and other disadvantages the Systems Alliance currently faces.

The late Twenty-First Century's jobs protection movement came too late for many societies. Attitudes on birth control often meant the countries most in need of population management were least able to engage in it. Many agricultural areas and southern cities in North America Along with Southeast Asian, African and Latin American countries were badly affected as chapters Eight and Fourteen describe.

Labor costs and over-population were two of the largest problems for the rapidly collapsing United States. Both the Free American States which seceded from the United States in 2053, and the North American Democratic Republic which formed in 2069 when many coastal regions joined with Canada, had high labor costs. Robot labor was far less expensive than high-cost workers, particularly in the former United States. Robot labor was, therefore, rapidly adopted there. Adopting mechanical labor exacerbated national and international social, economic and political consequences rising from the United States' rapid collapse. These disruptions are described as part of chapters throughout this book.

The parts of Latin America and Africa that escaped the worst effects of climate change and the wars that shook both continents were extremely overpopulated. They were equally unready for the vast socioeconomic changes caused by machine labor. Hundreds of millions died in the social strife that struck these regions starting in 2039, with the worst phases of social and political instability (except in those parts of Africa affected by the Northern Alliance War) running from 2065 to 2106. The causes and impacts of the conflicts in Latin America and Africa will be described in Chapter Ten.

China reinstituted its often-criticized one child policy in 2035. It might have escaped many of the effects of severe underemployment if other areas had been more politically, socially, and economically stable. Western Europe and Japan, whose populations were not self-replenishing by the early twenty-first century should also have escaped the crisis of numbers. North American and Northeast Asian social and political instability ultimately caused the Northeast Asian war in 2075, and contributed to the war between China and the Free States of America of 2088. The former war shattered two of Earth's five largest economies. Nearly 200 million died. The latter killed thirty percent of China's population, destroyed Earth's largest economic centers, and left central and Southeastern North America uninhabitable. Many areas are still unusable, although soil cleansing technology drawn from the Prothean Archives is slowly reopening these regions. The socioeconomic impact of self-managing systems is described in chapter Eight. The Northeast Asian War, and War between China and the Free American States are discussed in Chapters Nine and Eleven, respectively.

Although population management was a lesser problem in many countries there, Europe was badly shaken by the partial collapse of the European Union in 2031. Southern and Eastern Europe were badly impacted by the Northern Alliance War. The European Continent's remaining livable areas became divided among competing blocks of nations led by the Scandinavian powers, Germany and England. England and Germany fought a war in 2071 leading to millions of casualties and, later, to the collapse of European trade in 2077. Only the discovery of the Prothean Archives gave much of Europe outside of Scandinavia (which mostly avoided the turbulence further south) the social and cultural impetus it needed to reintegrate and begin a period of rapid repopulation that continues at present. Developments in Europe before, during and after the Northern Alliance War are described in Chapter Seven.

Although many of Earth's problems were either climatic, political, religious, or socioeconomic in nature, some did not arise directly from these causes. The most notable of these was addiction to either drugs or immersive reality games. The so-called gamer famine of 2043 was an example of the latter. Three hundred thousand people either died of dehydration or starved to death while playing a series of highly popular, and equally addictive, virtual world games. Whether this incident was intentionally caused by the strongly pro-environmental programmers who created these games or a simple effect of their addictive nature is not known. In any case, the three companies that produced the games were dissolved and many of the programmers were never heard from again.

Wide-ranging overdoses of narcotics posed a significant problem for many countries from 2000-2115 when DNA locked medical and financial profiles became standard across Earth's remaining powers. Many died due to overdoses during this period. Fatalities grew in frequency when "rogue" officials facing severe overpopulation began introducing tainted materials into the their narcotics undergrounds in 2080. A very large number of people died due to rapid-acting poisons and drug-activated retroviruses which scientists and physicians were overtly told not to treat before this awful practice ended in the 2110s. These and other Human-caused disasters on Earth will be reviewed in Chapter Thirteen.

Many early Twenty-First Century innovators thought that expanding Humanity's population beyond Earth would help the species survive. Although correct in theory, their first attempts at practice ended disastrously, as exemplified by the slow and often heart wrenching collapse of the first Mars Colony.

The collapse of the Mars Colony is a prime example of Human steadfastness and the unbelievable harm Twenty-First Century Humans could unintentionally inflict on themselves and others. Although the Mars Colony had a few thousand inhabitants by 2060, it was well on the path to the growth, dynamism, and self-sufficiency it has today. However, Earth's rapidly collapsing civilizations meant that resupply of rare minerals and other commodities needed to support life there was not possible by the mid-2080s. The Martians, determined to "stick it out" did so until the late 2080s when their increasingly desperate pleas for help were met with deadly silence from Earth which had just suffered through the war between China and the Free States of America along with a wide variety of devastating natural catastrophes.

The magnetic fields raised to absorb dangerous radiation slowly failed. by 2095 everyone on mars had either cancer or cosmic ray poisoning. All were dead by 2098. Their suffering as shown in video records was as horrible as anything on Earth either before or since. The Mars colony was not revived until 2130. A year was needed to make SpaceX City habitable again. It now has a million inhabitants and, save for a few materials not available on Mars, is self-sufficient due to the Prothean knowledge found beneath the soils of Syria Planum. Earth's early efforts in space are described in Chapter Fourteen. The recolonization of Mars and discovery of the Prothean Archive are reviewed in Chapter Twenty-One.

Canada was relatively untouched during this period with the exception of some areas affected by fall-out from warheads used in 2088's conflict between China and the Free States of America. British Columbia was badly impacted by a magnitude 8.3 strike slip earthquake in 2059 known as the Portland quake due to the near destruction of Portland, Oregon by a combination of epicenter impact and tidal effects on the Columbia River. Northwestern North America only suffered economically due to the Northern Alliance War. The region was heavily disrupted economically by the natural disasters that contributed to the instability leading to 2088's conflict between China and the Free States of America.

The economic, social, and environmental damage every region suffered over the previous century and more drove awareness that without unity Humanity was unlikely to survive. Recognizing this threat, the North American Democratic Republic, The United Scandinavian Republics, The Latin American Confederacy, and The Hindu Congress signed the Earth Compact in 2143. Other nations including the Micronesian Union, African Alliance and South Pacific Confederation signed the treaty before 2148.

Vancouver British Columbia was chosen as the headquarters city for the Earth Compact because Western Canada and the American Pacific Northwest had the greatest economic productivity of any region on the planet at that time. The politics surrounding the development and ratification of the Earth Compact are described in Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen.

The discovery of the Prothean Archive in 2148 is described in Chapter Twenty-One. The data Therein woke Humanity to the fact that the wider galaxy was closer than most believed. Humanity immediately rethought its needs, ambitions, and priorities. Negotiations began within weeks on what became the Charon Accords. This treaty is the foundation of the Systems Alliance. It was signed in 2150. As of this writing, all nations on Earth have signed the Charon Accords. Most Human colonies have also done so.

As will be seen in Chapter Twenty, the Systems Alliance government is best described as a centralized technocratic Unity whose responsibilities focus on foreign affairs, trade, economic and fiscal policy, investment in science and technology, education, and defense. Levels of government below the SA manage matters like regional transport, healthcare, social and civil services, and agriculture.

Appointed officials and elected representatives are allowed only one six-year term in any single office. They may not occupy similar positions during their lifetimes. They may only return to within five hundred kilometers of Vancouver after their terms are over if in higher office. Otherwise they are permanently banned from living, working or even transiting through the region. Political appointees may only hold one SA-wide office during their lifetimes unless asked to serve for a one year emergency term.

The legislative body is bicameral. The "upper" house is the House of Nations, the "lower" the House of Representatives. Representation is geographical in the House of Nations, and by party affiliation in the House of Representatives. Appointment to The House of Nations is handled at the national level. This explains the diversity of nations' methods for electing delegates to the House of Representatives.

The House of Nations has veto power only. Representation therein is apportioned by population of the Earth nation in question as of each census. Planets outside of Earth get one representative once their populations reach 100,000 citizens over the age of 20 standard years of age. Smaller colonies are collectively represented by one at-large representative in each house of the SA legislature.

Larger colonies may only have one representative in each house until their populations equal that of the smallest of the SA's founding nations. When a colony matches the population of the smallest Earth SA treaty signatory, it is apportioned representation based on the SA census. This has helped create demographically and geographically representative bodies that are somewhat biased toward Earth. Both houses' makeup ensures appropriately reflective ethnic and religious diversity. They are more diverse than many nations legislatures were before the rise of the SA while ensuring that, outside of that caused by Earth's few remaining authoritarian regimes, the gerrymandering that caused "safe seats" for certain parties in bodies like the old US Congress or the British Parliament doesn't occur today.

The House of Representatives is the primary center of power in the Systems Alliance. Executive power is built either by winning a political majority there or via building a coalition of smaller parties. Elections to the House of Representatives occur on a revolving basis. A country's delegation to the House of Representatives is divided into two parts if the area in question has more than one representative. Each half of a country's seats is subject to election at the end of its six year term.

To maintain a place in the House of Representatives, a party must have a 10 percent share of the total seats there. This has generally meant that the Presidency of the SA has lain in the hands of relatively centrist coalitions dominated, for now, by Earth's intellectual and business interests. Over time the balance among these interests should change as the populations of the extrasolar colonies grow and their political parties gain more power. The structure of the SA and its politics are discussed in greater detail in chapters Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-two, and Twenty-three.

To allow its citizens a sense of control over their government, the SA treaty includes the right to referendum. Referenda must be passed by a minimum of fifty percent plus one of all eligible voters. Regions where eighty percent of voters vote "no" are exempt from being required to implement the referenda unless they are related to defense, space exploration, trade, education, colonization, or foreign affairs. The SA is the only power with authority to act on behalf of Humanity in these areas.

A simple majority is required to change or repeal a referendum if the people later decide such action is needed. This protects against the kinds of supermajorities that antimajoritarian laws like California's Proposition thirteen enshrined in the United States' then-failing democracy in the late Twentieth Century. Only the referenda receiving the ten highest number of DNA matched signatures can be voted on in any electoral period. Elections dealing with referenda occur each time a coalition falls in the House of Representatives or six years after the previous people's ballot, whichever time period is shorter.

Few parts of Earth escaped the disasters that helped drive the rise of the Earth Compact. Earth's population which exceeded nine billion in 2035 dropped to barely half that in 2115. Aided by artificial labor laws with strong support planet wide, and equally strictly enforced caps on hours (often no more than 30 in any seven-day period) living beings were allowed to work in order to provide income for those ready to earn it, unemployment amongst Earth's increasingly tightly managed populations hovered at about ten percent from the late 2080s until the discovery of the Prothean Archives.

Chapter Twenty-One details the discovery of the Prothean Archive. Space related projects including Earth's rapid extra-solar colonization took crash priority. The early colonial phase is described in chapter Twenty-two. This frenetic activity came simultaneously with a vast defense build-up driven by clear evidence of the risk of encounters with dangerous alien cultures. This build-up has drawn even higher priority since the First Contact War which saw nearly 300,000 Human deaths on Shangsi and in space.

Chapter Twenty-three describes the First Contact War. It was sparked by the activation of relay 314 by Shangsi based explorers. A Turian heavy fleet commanded by Admiral Stallanius Sparatus was on maneuvers nearby. Admiral Sparatus responded with overwhelming force to what he believed was a dangerous breach in citadel law. Within a day the Shangsi system's defenses were shattered and the planet under close siege. General Morton Williams commanded the landside forces, which were quickly overwhelmed by the far better equipped Turian infantry and marines. Distress calls were sent by the governor of Shangsi and General Williams. Turian jamming meant that those on Shangsi didn't know these signals were received by a shocked, yet determined Systems Alliance.

The SA government responded with all available force, including its brand new Element 0 powered dreadnought, Everest. The first, second, fourth and fifth fleets were dispatched. Battle was joined and although Human space-born casualties exceeded fifty percent, the Turian fleet was being pushed back from the planet when an Asari force headed by the three dreadnoughts of the Serrice guard arrived in the system. On determining what had happened, the Asari forced a truce, half an hour after general Williams, whose long-range communications had been destroyed, surrendered Shangsi to General Desolus Artirius and his Eleventh Legion of Palaven. Many civilian experts feel the General took the only action he could in order to protect the 200,000 remaining civilian and military lives on the planet. However, the SA military, which was new and previously untested, has taken a far dimmer view of the General's actions, particularly given that the situation did not require surrender by that point.

Earth's experts immediately recognized the vast difference in scale and power between the SA military and those of other powers. Earth's leadership and people have become determined to strengthen the SA military and improve the technology available to soldiers and civilians alike. Five dreadnoughts and a dozen space carriers have been built or are building. More than four hundred smaller mass effect enabled ships are in service with hundreds more under construction. Supporting the rapid growth in the SA military and the parallel reeducation of the vast majority of Humanity's population has been very expensive. Spending on defense and colonization is between ten and eleven percent of the SA's gross economic product. Educational and research spending consumes another fifteen percent. Much of this spending is supported by bonds issued by the SA Government and its colonies. The bonds are heavily subscribed on all Human controlled worlds. Chapter Twenty-Four describes the changes in Humanity's perspective and the growth of its relations with the Galactic Council since the First Contact War.

The tremendous economic impetus rising from colonization, space travel and the need to update almost every piece of technology Humans own or use, has cut unemployment to less than two percent. Humanity's explosive economic acceleration has also helped policy makers create confidence in future job growth. This confidence has given policy makers the ability to reverse the birth taxes instituted to control Humanity's population. Before they were repealed, So-called Birth Taxes on third children often reached fifty percent of parents' annual incomes and fourth children were often flatly prohibited.

As of 2151, citizens are heavily incentivized to have children in most countries. With living space and work opportunities now growing rapidly, Humanity's population is now not capped. It is expected to rise at a steady rate that should see its numbers pass their pre-collapse peak by the mid-2190s.

Aside from the ongoing risk of interstellar War, a potentially significant limit on the growth of Human populations also comes from an alien source—though one policy makers could not have predicted in 2156. This, of course, is Humanity's fascination with the Asari, who show equal interest in return.

Numerous Humans of all sexual orientations have shown great interest in relationships and reproduction with the highly attractive aliens who appear to be very like Human females. As a result, although the number of long-term Human-Asari relationships is still less than 100,000 as of this writing, some policy makers fear that, by 2180 or 2190 at the latest, up to ten percent of Humanity's reproductive age individuals may be in relationship with Asari and therefore, as the newly formed Terra Firma movement's leader Charles Saracino described matters in late 2167, not "making Human babies."

The Terra Firma movement is not the only faction benefitting from fear of aliens and their rapidly growing impact on Human culture and society. Terra Firma is, however, the largest example of these anti-Alien parties as of this writing. It has recently begun demanding that anyone who enters into a relationship with any non-Human alien be stripped of citizenship and travel rights in SA controlled space.

As of this writing, Terra Firma's agenda is considered unduly extremist by most of the SA's citizens. However, in some areas, Terra Firma polls four or five percent in local elections. Terra Firma's rising popularity is leading some policy makers to fear it will represent a serious threat to Humanity's so-far friendly association with the Galactic Council as of the 2180 or 2183 elections. These concerns, and some recent difficulties between the SA and the Galactic Council are described in Chapter Twenty-five.

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A/N: This introductory chapter to what would be a history of Earth and its relationship to the rest of the galaxy is likely to be the only segment of this book I will write. It is meant to give a sense for how I see the galaxy working at the time we encounter Shepard and Sithana. It is the text Sithana would be given to help familiarize her with the culture of the young Human with whom she will be so closely connected—at least for the length of the treatment she will be so important to in "Blind chance". Its inspiration is the technical documentation written by other authors like Logical Premise.

There are many things I've question about the canon Mass Effect Universe. How could the first Contact War only kill 300 and yet be so important to recent Human History and outlook? Here, I have Human casualties set far higher. How could the Asari, who have vast biological advantages not be the dominant power in the Galaxy? Here I show how each major Council race derives its strength and touch on the incredible military potential of the Asari. I don't touch their intelligence gathering capacity here but do somewhat in "Blind Chance." This mixed potential makes all other races very careful before going to war with the Asari. How could Humanity as we see it in the Mass Effect universe be so dominated by Caucasians. I believe we see only one Asian of any major impact throughout the three games, and only one or two South Asian characters. This chapter helps show how this could be. Save for war mechs, the Mass Effect universe almost totally misses out on the broad utility of robots. How could most tasks like cleaning and cooking for instance, not be handled automatically? I offer a possible answer here.

There is a lot of discussion on some of our biggest problems throughout this chapter. Climate Change, the rise of robots, immigration, and the strains they will put on our societies are considered. All of those discussions are based on my own mix of training in International Politics, Economics and the sciences. They are also based on at least an hour a day of reading of various news sources. If you don't like what you read here, I most sincerely apologize. This "history" is not the only path forward, just one that seems uncomfortably possible to me given current trends. If you disagree I certainly welcome your (well researched) counter-arguments. If you want to avoid some version of the future I offer here, involve yourself: make your views both known and impactful. I won't include sources here because fanfiction isn't about loads of citations. Assume everything I've mentioned here is not my own idea. All events are drawn either from current events or from logical derivations of trends and stories in the media or pieces in the academic literature available on the web. Google the issues and flashpoints I mention.

On recommendations. People have recommended and supported my work, its only right I do the same for them…and for others. Logical Premise has recommended "Blind Chance". He inspired much of my thinking for my own A/U. If you can deal with action that is definitely over the top at times, give his 2.5 million words of work the close attention it deserves. Desert Sunrise helps me post my writings. They have a very nicely done series of five novel-length stories and several minor offshoots that is a great read if you like action written from the professional's view…but beware of the shmex. Neutral Ground's "Beyond the Fire" and its unfinished sequel have very partially inspired my vision for the radically changed Sigren you will meet if I ever get to ME1 times. Joking611's Cara'ssi'mi series is also very thoughtfully done though there are some characterization issues with his Shepard. It is moving forward slowly. Logical Premise, Joking611, Neutral Ground, and Desert Sunrise are F Shep/Liara authors. Huntington's Bride's unfinished three-part series inspired part of the disability focus of "Blind Chance." There are some issues with their main character but overall the series is very well worth reading, particularly if you like FShep/Samara. Kudara has done some very interesting things but their work is unfinished. Their vision of the Asari is well worth exposing yourself to if you haven't already.

On Blind Chance: I have material set for several chapters but too many r/l things going on to move on them. I'm getting to the point where I will need a contributor to help with action-y pieces like the battles of Elysium and Torfan as I don't have the expertise to write good street-to-street fighting. I will be honored to work with anyone with the right kind of military background or other similar experience who is interested in authoring those interstitial, but essential, scenes of the "Blind Chance" universe.


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